Unexpected Guest
by PoorlyThoughtOutPlan
Summary: Harry has finally come to stay at Number Twelve Grimauld Place before his fifth year and is furious that no one will tell him anything. But one thing that comes as a surprise for everyone in Grimauld Place arrives in the form of Snape's younger half-brother: Kol Ashford. Hermione and Ron bashing, maybe slight Dumbledore bashing, I don't know yet.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! So, this is my first ever fanfiction (please be nice) and some critiquing would be nice, I know I'm not that great-yet. Hopefully I'll get there eventually.  
Anywho, please R/R and follow and favorite or whatever strikes your fancy! Enjoy.**

**(I guess I'm supposed to put a disclaimer somewhere so here goes) I don't own a thing. Harry Potter isn't mine, sadly, but I do own Snape's little bro (even though he's imaginary) and I'm not making any money off this stuff.**

**Chapter One**

Harry huddled closer to the Weasley twins and their extendable ear.

They were currently listening in on yet _another_ Order meeting that they weren't allowed to attend. Harry felt anger rise up once again at the perceived injustice of it all.

"—I don't know, Dumbledore; we don't know this boy and we only have Snape's word to go on this." Moody's voice came through in the usual gruff tone, however, this time he sounded irritated. Well, more so than usual.

"I appreciate your concern, Alastor, but I trust Severus with my life. If you trust me at all, then please trust me on this."

Harry glanced over at the twins (which one was which?). This sort of conversation wasn't uncommon; more than one member had questioned Snape's loyalties, but what were they talking about? _Who_ were they talking about?

"I agree with Moody," Sirius's voice cut in, "anybody who's related to Snivellus has to be a bad sort."

Small mutters of agreement accompanied his blunt statement.

There was the scraping sound of a chair being pushed back.

"Sirius," Remus said testily, "are you saying you don't trust Dumbledore?"

Quiet immediately followed his question. Then sputtering could be heard coming from Sirius as he tried to defend himself.

"What—that's not at all what I was saying!" Sirius finally got out.

"Then you _do_ trust Dumbledore?" Remus asked in his "lawyer" mode.

"Of course!" Was the reply.

"Then you won't, of course, have issues with taking the word of someone Dumbledore trusts implicitly at face value?"

"…..no."

"So having Snape's younger brother stay here while he assists he Order will not be a problem for you?" Remus's tone had taken on a matter-of-fact sound with the sneaky, almost Slytherin way he worded his questions.

"….I….suppose not." Sirius complied in a defeated voice.

Harry froze as they listened in, turning to see what the twins reactions were. If the situation had been different, Harry might have laughed out loud, as it were, he was pretty sure his face probably looked the same.

The twin's eyes were both the size of dinner plates and their faces were drained of color, making their freckles stand out even more. They had their mouths hanging open in shock. They turned to Harry with a mixture of disgust and horror in their expressions.

Harry was about to speak when they heard the sound of the Order moving around and standing up; preparing to leave.

Fred—or was it George?—quickly pulled up the extendable ear and all three of them made a fast getaway to Fred and George's room.

They shut the door and Harry leaned against it for support as the twins sat on their beds, panting from their impromptu sprint.

Harry sank to the ground as he went over the implications of having another Snape in the house.

The conclusion wasn't very encouraging. From the glance the red-heads shared, they were thinking along the same lines.

Harry closed his eyes and leaned his head on the door as he asked the question they were all thinking:

"What are we going to do?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Helllllloooo! I'm back again! I don't really have set time to update right now (considering I don't even know if people actually like it) so for now I'll probably just kinda update every day or so. Pretty much just letting it happen :D**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing...not making any money off of this, but if I did-not gonna lie, that would be an awesome job..**

**Chapter Two**

Harry and the Twins spent most of the afternoon debating over whether or not to tell Hermione and Ron about the visitor they were going to be having.

Harry had been avoiding them since he'd shouted at them, and would only speak in short, terse sentences in their presence. The twins had offered to share their room (to which Harry gratefully accepted), after they saw how Harry's face would completely close off when Ron or Hermione entered a room, how he shut down and willfully ignored them whenever they tried to talk to him.

The twins didn't blame him, but on the other hand, they didn't exactly think Ron and Hermione were at fault either. They did, however, decide to side with Harry on the principle that Harry was alone while Ron and Hermione had each other—well, that and the fact that Ron was decidedly uninteresting and Hermione had no sense of humor.

Harry was completely different from his friends, which had surprised them because he was always quiet. Although, in many cases, the quiet ones were the ones you had to look out for For instance, Harry's sense of humor was waspish and snarky; many times Fred would crack jokes with George while Harry silently observed. But every time they weren't expecting it Harry would come out with a sarcastic one-liner that would have the Weasley twins rolling on the floor, then he'd smirk and go back to polishing his broom, leaving the red-heads to dry calm themselves, and then repeat the process.

As of now, Fred was lying half off his bed with his head grazing the floor and his feet in Harry's lap. Harry was sitting on Fred's bed and lazily making his transfiguration textbook float about the room; purposefully making it bump into George's face every once in a while. George was "trying" to finish his potions essay, but was only succeeding in filling out hiss parchment with doodles of Snape in various states of demise.

The afore mentioned debate over leaking their recently acquired information was put on hold since they couldn't come to a good compromise; Harry was firmly against it, George wanted to tell (he said he wanted to be sure to see Ron's face when he found out about the mini-Snape), and Fred was undecided. So they simply chose to ignore the problem altogether.

George was just about to ask Fred if maybe they should hex Snape more this year to retaliate against this obvious declaration of war (because living with people's relatives were the worst sort of punishment), when the call for dinner went up, although quietly so they didn't wake Sirius's mother. They filed downstairs to the kitchen. Harry studiously ignored two _certain_ individuals and took a seat at the opposite end of the table, in-between the Weasley twins. Mrs. Weasley hovered a bit around Harry, but kept sending worried glances over to Ron and Hermione; obviously concerned about the situation.

"Oh, Harry dear, you're so thin—here's some seconds." She slid more potatoes on his plate without waiting for an answer and bustled off to hand more food off to Remus; the other "much too thin" person at the table. She served him with mutters of "Skin and bones…no meat at all…"

Fred and George broke out in snickers and started to emulate their mother:

"Oh, Harry!" Fred cried, wringing his hands, "I can see your ribs right through your shirt!" He pinched Harry's cheek and tried to shovel more food in his mouth. Harry's face turned bright red and his arms flailed around as he tried to pry Fred off of him.

Sirius and Remus chuckled at the red-heads antics but George soon put a stop to Remus's laughter as he ran over and started fawning over him as well, minus the pinched cheeks—he was under no illusions that he would get away with it, so he substituted it for hair-ruffling.

Sirius fell out of his chair from laughing so hard at the sight of his best mate being molly-coddled—he wasn't able to wring himself out of George's grasp, and even Ron couldn't hide his chortling.

Mrs. Weasley and Hermione were of a different mindset:

"Honestly!" Mrs. Weasley fumed, "Do you lot have no sense of decorum" She smacked George on the back of the head and snapped at him, "Fred! Leave Remus alone! Really, the way you two act, you'd think you were raised by ruffians!"

Hermione seized the opportunity to berate Fred—or "George"—as everyone now thought he was, in a doomed attempt to get back in Harry's good books.

"George, stop being so foolish," she hissed, throwing her copy of _The Daily Prophet_ at his head for good measure. "Leave Harry be, you're going to wake up Mrs. Black's portrait if you keep this up!" She glared at him as he stopped, but frowned in confusion when Harry leveled a glare of his won that was so filled with anger and disgust that it shut her up.

Ron simply grabbed the dinner rolls and hid from the fighting underneath the table. Ginny kicked him for stealing the food, causing a muffled "Ouch!" to be heard from the table near Ginny's feet and drawing everyone's attention.

When Ron climbed out, empty bread basket in one hand and the other nursing his elbow, Mrs. Weasley looked ready to "blow a fuse" as the muggles would say. Before she could start bellowing at Ron and consequently destroy everyone's eardrums; Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley walked into the room with Tonks trailing behind them like a lost puppy.

The Kitchen was filled with the sound of scraping chairs as everyone hurried to sit back in their seats like civilized people.

The three newcomers joined the rest of the table; Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley wearing serious expressions as they sat down.

Tonks, on the other hand, was humming a Weird Sisters song under her breath while she reached for a helping of food, nearly knocking over the butter dish while she stretched her arm across the table.

Mrs. Weasley looked upset as well, Sirius looked angry…Remus was the only one who looked calm. The children all looked confused, but Harry, Fred, and George exchanged glances that said they suspected they knew where this conversation was headed. These looks were not missed by Dumbledore, who seemed to regain some of the former twinkle in his eyes.

"I'm afraid you children will have to be dealing with yet another Order member in the coming days."

Hermione sat up straighter. "Sir? Who is it? Is it Tonks? But she's already spent the night before, it's not been a problem. Is it someone different?"

Dumbledore chuckled, causing Hermione to blush at her own forwardness.

Harry watched the exchange with a mask of indifference on his face, but inwardly, he was fuming at her forceful attitude. _'I can't believe I put up with this for five years.' _He though viciously.

Unaware of Harry's mental ruminations, Dumbledore answered Hermione's questions.

"His name is Kol Ashford, he's a talented young mage not much older than yourselves."

Harry furrowed his brow and saw the twins do the same. _'I though he was Snape's younger brother…why does he have a different last name? Is it a disguise' _

"Ashford…" Hermione mused out loud. "Isn't that an old pureblood family from America?"

Dumbledore nodded his head, "Indeed Miss Granger, your memory does you a great service. Yes, he is a pureblood, but like the Weasleys he is vehemently opposed to Voldemort's ideals. And since he related to a member of the Order, he has agreed to come assist us."

Ron piped up, "Sir, who is he related to? I don't think anyone here has Ashford blood. And…Sir…weren't the Ashfords a dark family?"

Harry felt his eyebrows rise up as high as they would go. A dark family? What was Dumbledore playing at? He noticed Mrs. Weasley looked faint, Mr. Weasley and Sirius looked constipated, and Remus just looked exasperated.

Tonks continued eating her dinner.

"No, my dear boy, not at all." Dumbledore assured him, "While they are not a considered a light family, they are most certainly not dark."

"Sir," Hermione said. "Doesn't that mean they are classified as a grey, or neutral, family?"

"Precisely so, Miss Granger, but it would be good to note that simply because your family believes one thing, that your beliefs cannot be different." Here he gave a not-so-subtle glance ever at Sirius.

Sirius glared back.

"Ahem," Dumbledore straightened his glasses. "I can assure you, he is not a dark wizard. I think the fact that he is against Voldemort speaks for itself."

Ginny had been sitting so quietly for the entire conversation that everyone gave a start when she spoke up, "Professor Dumbledore, I notice you forgot to mention who this Kol Ashford is related to."

All eyes turned back to old man.

"Oh, yes, that…Mr. Ashford is the much younger half-brother of Severus Snape."

The teenagers were all silent for a moment. Fred, George, and Harry, because they had already known, but Ron and Hermione looked like they were hoping beyond hope that someone was going to start laughing and admit it was all a joke. Ginny, interestingly enough, looked intrigued at the prospect of having a younger Snape to possibly exact revenge upon.

Harry made a mental note to never get on Ginny's bad side.

Harry decided to finally join the conversation. "Professor Dumbledore, just how is _Snape's little brother _going to be of any help? You said he wasn't much older than us." Harry tried to keep the sarcasm out of his voice but failed once he said Snape's name. He couldn't bring himself to care that much.

Dumbledore spared him a brief glance before answering, "He has recently turned nineteen years old, and has been out of school since he was your age, Harry, I think that more than enough to be of use."

Suddenly angry about Dumbledore's answer, Harry opened his mouth to retort but Hermione interrupted him.

"W-when is he supposed to come _here_?" She almost squeaked the last word.

Dumbledore rose from his chair, "He will arrive tomorrow night from America. Please do not let any prejudices get in the way of making friends with him, we are not who our families are." And with that he swept out of the room, leaving behind the silent kitchen.

**Ta da! Pleaaaaasseee R/R or at least follow/favorite or something to lemme know I should continue this story. Alrighty then, I think that's it, congrats if you actually read this A/N brownie points for you :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**AwwwwYeaaahhh, count that, TWO REVIEWS. Thank you sooo much to my lovely reviewers, geetac and guest. I would give you cookies if I could, but I'd probably eat them before the made it off the cooling racks (that's pretty much what happens anyways).**

**This is a shorter chapter than the last one, but hopefully just as good. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, I'm not making any money; never have, never will. Are we done here? I think so.**

**Chapter Three**

The next day was spent in a flurry of activity. It seemed that despite Mrs. Weasley's misgivings, she was determined to fix up as much of the house as they could before this Ashford character showed up.

Ron did everything grudgingly, and spent more time moaning about having to clean before this "Mini-Snape" (he refused to call him anything else) was going to intrude upon the house, than actually doing anything.

The Weasley twins, to everyone's surprise, were genuinely excited for their new housemate—and also roommate; there weren't enough clean rooms in the house for him to have his own room, and Sirius was being too stubborn to help any.

Mrs. Weasley, at first approached Harry to ask if he would go back to rooming with Ron. To which he replied with an emphatic "No." And it seemed that however much Mrs. Weasley wanted to impress young Mr. Ashford, that superficial welcome did not extend to letting him alone in a room with Ron every night.

When Mr. Weasley first asked Harry and the twins if they would mind rooming with a Grey wizard, he looked concerned that they might just say yer simply to prank him (and nobody knew how he might react if _that_ happened), but the twins just glanced over at Harry, and seeing that he didn't care (Harry had said that he was going to at least _try_ to be as unbiased as possible), they grinned and said "why not?"

Hermione's viewpoint was, predictably, to follow Lupin's example, and she was determined to give Kol Ashford a warm welcome.

Sirius had locked himself up with Buckbeak and refused, point blank, to come down before dinner to greet him—it was his home after all.

Ron would have joined Sirius and Buckbeak if he could, but his mother insisted on everyone being there to say help to the American.

Remus just sat himself down in the library with a cup of tea and a thick, ancient-looking book and restricted blood magic.

Dumbledore arrived via floo at half past five to announce that Severus Snape was right behind him, bringing shouts from the students of "why?! Why does _he_ have to be here?!" and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's red, angry faces.

Dumbledore raised his hands for some quiet (it actually worked quite well), and said, "Now, now, did you all forget who Mr. Ashford is related to? Of course Severus is coming, it _is_ his half-brother, after all."

The tense silence was broken by Fred leaning over and muttering to George and Harry, "Now someone better go and make _sure_ Sirius can't get out. "Much to George and Harry's amusement; their chuckles drawing angry stares from all over the room. This silence, too, was broken by the fireplace flaring up and spitting out Snape, who glared at everyone while brushing off his robes.

Remus happened to be walking into the room, having heard the floo from upstairs and decided to investigate.

"Hello, Severus," He said pleasantly, "Cup of tea?" he gestured to the kettle over on the counter.

"No, thank you, Remus, I don't have time. I'm merely here for Kol, and then I will leave." He turned his glare to Dumbledore, giving the impression that he had been forced out of his potions lab to come. Dumbledore smiled and ignored the glare, though how he did it, Harry would never know, if Dumbledore ever gave classes on it though…

Mr. Weasley, in an effort to keep up polite conversation, asked Snape, "Severus, what time are we to be expecting the boy?"

Snape turned his beady black eyes (Harry suppressed a shudder) on the balding father. "He was supposed to arrive five minutes ago." He scowled horribly, "He has an annoying propensity to being late, to almost everything. Quite like Mr. Potter, here."

Harry felt his face flush, half with anger, half embarrassment. "I'm not always late." He protested.

Remus chuckled, "Ah, cub, but you have to admit, you do it often enough."

Successfully cutting through the tension away with a few words and making everyone laugh. Even Harry, who was being teased, couldn't help the corner of his mouth curling upwards.

The smile were erased and the tension back, however, the moment the knock came at the door.

**DUN-DUN-DUUUUNNNN What's gonna happen now? I'll see how quickly I can update, hopefully super fast, cause it's almost the weekend. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all! Sorry it's taken my so long to post this, I've been distracted by the recent freedoms that summer offers. :)**

**Okay so you FINALLY get to meet my OC, I'm sure you've been curious about him...I'll admit, the main reason this was late was because I couldn't figure out exactly how I wanted him to act, but I figured everything out now, so hopefully that means updates will be faster.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC, Kol Ashford, and I'm not making any money off of this. :)**

**Chapter Four**

The silence pervaded throughout the house, and remarkably, the portrait of Sirius's mother did not wake. There was a short pause, as if everyone was holding their breath.

The knock came again; three sharp raps, as if the person on the other side was impatient. This seemed to wake everyone from their haze of trepidation. Snape led the way; he stalked down the hallway to the door. The entire group quickly followed Snape, trailing behind him and spilling into the entryway.

It was an anticlimactic reveal when Snape simply yanked the door open, displaying Kol Ashford standing on the other side, one arm raised, as if to knock again.

There was an awkward silence when Kol dropped his hand.

The group stared at Kol.

Kol stared back.

Then he turned to his head towards his older half-brother, "Did I miss something?"

Snape rolled his eyes, grabbed his arm, dragged him inside, and closed the door.

Everyone seemed to suddenly realize that the entryway was now very crowded and started shuffling through the hallway back into the kitchen.

Fred, George, and Harry were the first one back into the kitchen so they quickly took their seats so that they could observe their new roommate.

He was tall, that much was certain, Harry was sure he was almost as tall as Sirius. From a simple glance, the only thing that Snape and his little brother had in common was the dark black shade of their hair. But where Snape's hair was long, greasy, and lank, Ashford's hair was cut in a modern style, it wasn't hanging limp, it was spiked up in a way that Harry would have said was gelled were it not for the fact that it looked like he'd just walked away from a tornado.

What Fred found the most amusing was that, although his elder half-brother was the Slytherin's Head of House—the biggest group of muggle-haters in Hogwarts—Kol Ashford was sitting there looking perfectly comfortable in a pair of muggle jeans, converse, and a white button down with the sleeves rolled up. He also had a grey-black backpack slung over one shoulder. All in all; he looked like a perfectly normal muggle teenager.

George, on the other hand, while paying some small attention to these details, he was more focused in studying the facial expressions and gestures of the brother; trying to find the contrasts and similarities. Snape seemed to be sticking to the Slytherin playbook and was keeping his emotions off of his face rather nicely, George noticed. However, he also saw that Snape had yet to release Ashford's arm, and was making sure that the younger was staying close. It seemed that Snape's overprotective big-brother instincts were kicking in, despite what he had protested earlier about leaving once his brother had arrived. Ashford was doing a good job of schooling his features, though his bright blue eyes betrayed the faintest hint of exasperation at his older brother's antics.

The rest of the room seemed to not know what to make of him, and it was quiet until the last person to enter the room—Dumbledore—sat.

Unsurprisingly, it was Remus who killed the silence. With a small smile on his face, he spoke in a friendly tone, "Well, I'm glad to be the first person to welcome you to number twelve Grimauld Place." He stretched his hand across the table, "I'm Remus Lupin, please call me Remus."

Ashford nodded once and shook the offered hand.

"I guess I don't really need to tell you my name."

Harry cocked his head slightly to the side at the unfamiliar American accent-it would take some getting used to.

Remus chuckled at that.

"No, I don't suppose you do." He turned to glance about the table. "Why don't I get the introductions out of the way?" He started spouting names and pointing to the appropriate people.

"That's Tonks, well, Nymphadora's her first name—"

"DON'T CALL ME NYMPHADORA!"

"—but she prefers Tonks. I'd stick to that if I were you." If Ashford was at all startled by Tonk's outburst he didn't show it, though the corner of his mouth did twitch up.

"This is Molly Weasley, the best cook you'll ever meet, and her husband Arthur. They've seven children but not all of them are here, I'm afraid, but that's Ronald, their youngest son.

Ron just glared at the older boy. Ashford paid the glare no notice, simply nodding curtly in Ron's direction and then moved his attention to the next person.

"Then this is Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley, who is the youngest Weasley, and the only girl."

To the shock and somewhat amusement of Harry, Fred, and George, both girls blushed violently at the mention of their names and, when Ashford sent a polite smile their way, they both ducked their heads without saying a word.

George leaned in towards Harry and whispered, "I guess you don't have to worry about Ginny's hero worship anymore, eh?"

Fred had to stuff his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Harry tried very hard not to smile, and he had to bite his cheek to stop himself from sniggering. George sat there smirking at the two of them and, though they kept their exchange silent, the slight movement caught Ashford's eye, and he watched them out of his peripheral vision, only listening to the introductions with half an ear.

"—and that's Albus Dumbledore, in case you haven't already met."

Ashford seemed to reassert his attention back to what Remus was saying right at that moment, and he smoothly slipped back into the conversation.

"No, we haven't, but I've heard a lot about you." He directed a tilt of his head and the second part of his sentence to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore inclined his head in return and replied, "It's an honor to finally meet you, Mr. Ashford. Tales of your exploits have reached us from across the sea, even if your name was not specifically mentioned in the reports."

For the first time since he'd set foot in the door, Ashford looked uncomfortable.

"Ah, yes." He said, fidgeting slightly, "That…erm, which _incident _are you referring to, exactly?"

The confusion in the room mounted as everyone except Snape, Remus, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked surprised. What were they talking about?

Dumbledore chortled lightly, "While I have heard of many of your 'incidents' as you call them, I was most impressed with the situation involving a dragon and the forest in California."

The kids in the room noted the adult's reactions to this sentence; Remus smirked along with Tonks, who also turned towards Ashford with a newfound sense of respect and a quiet 'that was _you?_" Mr. Weasley's face went pale and Mrs. Weasley's mouth thinned in disapproval. Snape looked like a cross between furious and proud, which was a new look for him.

Harry decided he wasn't going to wait for someone to come out with the truth by themselves, so he just outright asked, "What?"

All eyes turned towards him and his oh so articulate phrasing. Remus seemed to realize that he'd missed out introducing the last three people at the table.

"Oh! Kol, it seems I've forgotten about those three rascals." As if on cue, three pairs of eyes widened innocently to look in shock at the former Marauder, in unison they each pointed to their chests and mouthed 'Who? Me?' Much to everyone's amusement.

"Those are the infamous Weasley twins, Fred and George; I'll leave it up to you to figure out which is which—goodness knows nobody else knows." Everyone chuckled at that, "Well, except for Harry, there," He pointed, "That's Harry Potter."

Harry suppressed a flinch as he said that, preparing himself for the usual shock and awe that accompanied his name. The reaction was a somewhat less than inspired, "Huh." And then Ashford moved on with the conversation like nothing special had happened, instead asking if dinner was going to happen sometime this century. This brought laughter from the room's inhabitants (Snape merely smirked), and just like that, any and all tension was gone.

From everyone's reactions, it seemed that while there was no end of animosity from certain individuals (Ron and Sirius), there were definitely more in favor of this Ashford bloke than against. Although Mrs. Weasley was a little jumpy around him, when dinner was served and devoured he gave such glowing complements that she couldn't help but smile and say that he was still a growing boy and 'of course he'd say that about any sort of food.' Ginny and Hermione were both shy around the newcomer, but they vied for his attentions, and flushed whenever he paid them a complement. Remus and Tonks told jokes and teased each other and even Ashford, who was spending his first evening in their company caught on fast, and was busy sending subtle, teasing comments at the two. He even 'innocently' mistook the two for a couple and mentioned it, causing both of them to stammer out exclamations of 'No!' and 'I—I don't think so.' And everyone within hearing distance smirked.

After dinner, it was late and they decided that it was time for bed. And although the adults claimed that they too were ready to hit the sack, Harry suspected that they were just playing along for the children, and that they were planning to meet again to discuss the Ashford boy.

Harry and the twins led their new roommate upstairs, and showed him his bed, shoved in a corner like the other three, making enough room in the middle of the floor to sit down.

By this time all four boys were exhausted, with Kol being the worst; after a long day of traveling, he was worn out.

It was only once they'd collapsed into bed that Harry realized Ashford had never answered his question about the forest in California and the dragon. He lifted his head to look over at the next bed, and saw at once that Kol was dead to the world if the the slow rising and falling of his shoulders was any indication. The Weasley twins were softly snoring in unison.

Harry decided that he could always ask tomorrow, after all, this Ashford guy didn't seem so bad—even if he _was_ related to the spawn of the devil.

It was with those thoughts that Harry drifted off into dreams filled with Hagrid letting loose the Hungarian Horntail in the Forbidden Forest, and a lonely door at the end of a dark corridor.

**Dundundun...hope you've enjoyed this chapter, please R/R because I'm a review hog and I need more criticism. But, ya know, praise is always good too. :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Yo.**

**So, talk about procrastination...I've been channeling my inner Shikamaru lately (Yay Naruto!). **

**FIRST OFF I'D LIKE TO THANK ALL MY REVIEWERS - NatheRiver, DevilishAngel666, Moon's Lullaby, WolfGirl75, Guest, GrimmjowYaoi, Heatherisfire, and Idon'tKnow93 (-my sister).  
You guys, I've got thirteen reviews, forty-two followers, and twenty-four favorites in all, and I love you so much for your support. Specifically Heatherisfire, for her (I'm assuming you're female based on your u/n) compliments, but more so for her criticizing because it helps me write better. :) As to what you were asking/telling me to fix: I think you're right about Harry being able to tell which twin is which, but I though it'd be more interesting if he slowly builds up to it, because he doesn't hang out with them as much, as opposed to just randomly being able to tell them apart when their own mother can't. Seriously, you'd have to spend a least a little bit more time around them.  
I've read through this chapter a couple times and I didn't catch any misspells, but I'm kinda tired so it's possible that I missed something (I tried though!).  
Lastly, Ginny's OoC-ness. I personally was trying to go for her being shy in the beginning and then once she sort of gets a little more used to him, then she'll start to flirt. But I LOVE your idea of her flirting with him just to piss off Snape...heheheh...I'll steal this for later, lemme put this in my bag...**

**Okay, with that out of the way, I've only got to say that I do not own Harry Potter, but since I like to write and I also hate world-building, I shall henceforth be playing in Rowling's proverbial sandbox. I only own my OC Kol Ashford, but it's not like he's amazing or anything (pshhhh).  
**

**Chapter Five**

The next morning Harry slowly woke to the smells of frying bacon, eggs, and pancakes. The scents were enough motivation to make him raise his head off the pillow. He glanced lazily around the room, seeing the twins were still snoring lightly in their beds, but when Harry turned to Ashford's cot, it was empty. The blankets were rumpled and draped so they were half on the cot, half on the floor. It looked like someone had been trying to wake up and ended up falling down in the process.

Harry could hear the sounds of silverware clinking on plates downstairs. He decided that he'd better get up and grab some food before it was all gone; after all—Ashford could eat like Ron for all he knew. He didn't want to chance it.

He snatched his glasses off the tiny end table between the beds and walked down the stairs. He started to make out the voices speaking as he drew closer to the kitchen.

"—don't drink tea? Well what do you drink, dear?"

That was Mrs. Weasley's voice. She sounded bemused, as though she didn't know what to do with someone who didn't drink tea.

"Eh, well I—"

"Oh, but he's American, I'll bet you drink coffee, don't you?"

"Er, no I don't."

Harry walked through the doorway to see Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Remus, and Ashford sitting around the table, the remains of their breakfast lying on their plates. The two older men looked like they had been up for a while as they were already dressed, but Ashford seemed to have just gotten out of bed; he was still in his sweat pants and t-shirt. His hair was flattened in some places, but stood up in others, and generally looked like something had been living in it. It seemed as though Mrs. Weasley and Sirius were interrogating Ashford about his tastes in drinks, while Remus just sat drinking his morning tea, looked distinctly amused.

"You don't like tea _or_ coffee?" Sirius sounded incredulous. "What do you like, anyway?"

Ashford wrinkled his brow, "Hot chocolate?"

Remus let out a laugh at that. "I like this one, Padfoot, can we keep him?"

Sirius, no longer acting like a petulant child as he had been for the past couple of days; looked bewildered at the answer and turned to Mrs. Weasley. "Blimey, it's another Moony. We've got another bloody chocoholic on our hands."

Mrs. Weasley shook her head, sighing, "Maybe he'll grow out of it." She mumbled as she turned away to start up some more bacon.

Harry sniggered at the interaction, drawing attention to himself.

Sirius grinned when he saw him. "Prongslet!" He nudged the chair next to him. "Have a seat."

Harry smiled back and moved to take the offered seat, nodding at Ashford and Remus. "Mrs. Weasley, do you need any help?"

Remus and Sirius smirked.

"Oh no, dear; I've only just got this one to stop asking me that." She motioned to Ashford, "Poor boy's so polite I don't know what to do with him. He's so like you, Harry."

Ashford grumbled a bit at that. Harry raised an eyebrow, "Do I want to know?" He asked.

Sirius barked a laugh. "Apparently Snape's little brother is the only one in the family to have a decent set of manners." Ashford glared at him, but didn't say anything. Sirius either ignored it, or didn't see as he continued. "He almost wouldn't eat until he'd helped Mrs. Weasley in some way—of course she set him right in due time."

Remus chuckled a little. "I don't know about manners and families, but you yourself are quite different than your own family, Sirius."

Harry nodded his agreement. He didn't care for _any _of Sirius's immediate relatives.

Sirius himself looked thoughtful as he turned to the American. "That's right; we'll make a Gryffindor of you yet!"

Ashford looked slightly less enthusiastic about this plan, but continued to say nothing and allowed Remus to pat him lightly on the back with a sympathetic gaze, as though he knew how tactless Sirius could be.

Harry's pride was slightly pricked though; after all, why wouldn't he want to be in the House of the Brave? His relatively small amount of anger was soon deflated, however, when he remembered who Ashford was related to. He bet Snape wouldn't be above picking on his own family if they got into the wrong House. Come to think of it—why the hell was Sirius getting so chummy with the kid anyway?

Harry pondered this while he ate his breakfast, which Mrs. Weasley set down amid mutters of "—tried to teach them some manners, but do my boys pick them up? No..."

Remus was just asking Ashford about his old school when the twins stumbled down the stairs sleepily, followed soon after by Hermione. The twins seated themselves to the right of Harry and mumbled a slurred 'thanks' to their mother as she set down their plates. The red-headed woman smiled slightly, eyes flickering with hope; but it was quickly dowsed when their table manners where almost as sloppy as Ron's. She grumbled a bit, and gave Hermione her dish too, after firmly telling her 'no she didn't need any help, thank you,' much to Remus and Sirius's amusement.

When Hermione had taken a sip of her tea she turned to Remus, "Were you asking Kol about his school?" She asked curiously.

Remus nodded in return and they both looked at Ashford, who was shrugging nonchalantly as he replied. "It wasn't too bad, I guess. I passed through everything pretty quickly though, so I can't really say how easy or difficult the courses were."

Remus nodded, but Hermione asked. "Well what school did you go to? I've heard that the Salem institute's standards have fallen quite low in recent years, but I'm sure I read that it was the premier school in America."

Ashford shook his head. "No, it's just the oldest school in America—it's by no means the best." He smirked. "In fact, most of the other schools think it's a bit of a joke nowadays."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up. "Really? You said 'schools' in plural…how many schools are there in America? There can't be that many can there? In Europe there's only one school in Scotland, Germany, and France respectively."

Ashford nodded and ran a hand through his messy hair as he spoke. "Yeah, well that's because you guys have a weird fetish for boarding schools; in America there's only boarding schools in Salem, Texas, and Nebraska. For the most part, there are smaller schools set throughout the states that kids go to every day, just like a Muggle school."

Everyone seemed shocked at that—no boarding schools? This was a completely new idea for them to take in.

At this point, Fred and George were awake enough to contribute to the conversation. "So you have to stay with your family the entire school year?" One of them asked with a horrified expression on his face that was mirrored by his twin. His mother swatted his head with a wooden spoon.

"That's no way to speak about your own family!"

Fred (or George) cowered behind an upheld fork. "Sorry mum! It's just that there's more freedom at Hogwarts, you know." When she huffed at him, but retreated to the stove, he slowly lowered the eating utensil.

"Besides," The other ginger-haired twin said in a lower tone. "At Hogwarts you can sneak around the castle whenever you feel like it—so long as you don't get caught." The twins shared a twisted smirk with Harry, and Harry could see Sirius and Remus glance at each other with a slightly curled lip.

Ashford cocked his head to the side as he watched interactions at the table with a sort of lazy curiosity, not noticing Hermione subtly staring at him out of the corner of her eye. Harry though, noticed—and apparently so did the twins—and again, the three of them shared another evil grin.

In that moment, two more red-heads made their way into the kitchen. Ron sat next to Hermione and Ginny—blushing furiously—took the seat next to Ashford.

Mrs. Weasley served everyone their food and absentmindedly shoveled seconds onto Harry, Hermione, and Ashford's plates without asking if they'd wanted more. The three looked at their plates; Harry looking resigned, Hermione looking exasperated, and Ashford blinking in surprise.

Ashford opened his mouth—probably to decline the food—but Remus stopped him by tapping him on the back saying. "Yeah, she does that…and she won't let you leave until you've finished everything on the plate."

Harry and the Weasley twins stifled their laughs at Ashford's face when he glanced down and blanched and the sight of all that food. Hermione had much of the same reaction to the amount, but she already knew there would be no way out of it.

Ron and Ginny were remarkably silent throughout the meal, but for vastly different reasons—Ron because he was occupied with the food in front of his face, and nothing more (probably in an attempt to ignore the Ashford boy), and Ginny because her newly formed crush was so much that she seemed to have temporarily reverted back to her first year level of shyness.

Fred, George, and Harry found it all quite funny, discreetly trying to come up with ways to exploit this new development. Blackmail was the only feasible option that they had so far, but they were confident that they would think of other things.

By the time breakfast was finished, the whole table felt much more comfortable about their new house-guest (except for Ron), and all things pointed to having a good day. That is, it was until Harry realized something; Dumbledore himself had said that Ashford had finished school. This had been confirmed by both Snape (although not the most reliable source) and the mornings conversation. So what was Sirius talking about making Ashford a Gryffindor earlier? Was he being literal, or just making a joke? Harry couldn't figure out why Dumbledore would want to have a member of the Order in Hogwarts (why the hell does nobody tell him _anything?_) unless….no, it couldn't be that.

Harry brainstormed a bit about it before he mentioned it quietly to Fred and George to see what they thought about it.

"I'm not sure why he'd do that, Harry…" George said, shrugging one of his shoulders. "Sorry.."

"Wait!" Fred exclaimed, only to be shushed by the other two, and said in a lower tone, "What if Dumbledore's sent him to be your bodyguard?"

This earned him incredulous looks from both faces. "No, listen," He defended himself. "Harry's only just fought with You-Know-Who last year, and he's already been attacked by those dementors." George adopted a thoughtful look. "It'd make perfect sense to assign you a bodyguard, Harry."

George was nodding slowly. "That's true, Harry, it's what I'd do, if I was Dumbledore—"

"—Which you're not—"

"—no, of course not, I don't have the right face for a beard."

Harry shuffled his feet around a bit. "I dunno…don't you think that's a bit…I don't know—_conceited_ maybe?"

The twins shook their heads. "Nah, Harry, everyone knows that You-Know-Who's after you—it's only logical to assume Dumbles would want to keep you safe."

Harry scratched the back of his head. "If you say so."

"We do." They replied in unison.

Harry chuckled, and then frowned. "The only thing…" The identical males looked at him expectantly. He sighed. "I just want to know why they wouldn't just come out and say that they were doing that in the first place."

Fred rubbed his chin with his knuckles. "When you put it that way—"

George furrowed his brow. "Maybe you've really got something going with this whole 'nobody's telling Harry shit' theory."

Harry's head bobbed up and down quickly. "I told you!" He said triumphantly-And was promptly slapped upside the head by two hands when his exclamations drew the eyes of everyone currently in the living room.

The trio threw glares around the room before they were left alone to huddle in their corner in peace.

"The only question is—" Started Fred.

"-If this bodyguard thing is true—"

"—Why do they want you to be clueless?"

They were unable to come up with any answers, but resolved to listen in on as many Order meetings as they could get away with.

Neither Harry nor the twins appreciated being kept in the dark. That was something the Order was going to find out.

**Ta Da! There you have it. I'm tired now, and I'm going to sleep. Hope you enjoyed it! **

**P.S. - Pleaaassee R/R for meee ^-^ or F/F that works too.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yo.**

**Ok, so I'm rushing it here and I didn't have time to check this chapter for errors and misspells so if you find one, I'm sorry.**

**Also I've got a couple more reveiws (Yay!) so a big thanks to Harry1675, GrimmjowYaoi, Heatherisfire, and anon. Love you guys! :) And to answer ****GrimmjowYaoi's question, I don't know who I want to pair with Kol...Do you have any suggestions? I'd love to hear what they are, but I'm warning you..I'm not the best with romance. And if I did do it, it wouldn't be boy/boy because I've had absolutely zero experience there...**

**Anyway, thanks again if you've actually managed to read this far into my A/N and, as per usual, I own nothing but my OC.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Six**

**Kol's P.O.V.**

Kol had been in many awkward situations in his life-more, in fact, than he cared to count. This one, however, had to at least rank in the top ten of his mental list.

Right now he was currently in the Black family library, trying to do some research on a sensitive subject that Sev asked him to do for Dumbledore. And since he was asked for specifically, he knew it was important even if he didn't know all the particulars. But regardless of the importance of the information, as it was Order business, it was to remain secret; something that was rather difficult to keep when he had two almost stalkers following him around.

"_Honestly," _He thought incredulously, _"Does that Granger girl _live _in this library." _

He tossed a careful glance over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the bushy-haired menace sitting in a chair behind him. The seat she had taken was unnerving for him because every time he tried to lose himself in his research, his instincts were constantly on alert because he always had a pair of eyes digging into his back.

Talk about annoying.

He grudgingly turned back to the book he had pulled out earlier, taking notes as he read. At least with the red-head he knew he could escape when he went to the library-the Granger girl never seemed to freaking _leave._ Not to mention how nosy she was.

Sev never said _anything_ about younger girls crushing on him when he brought up this job. Sure, it's not like Sev could have exactly predicted that this would happen, but you'd think that if anyone would help you out, it would be your older brother. Unfortunately, Kol had been blessed with a particularly sadistic sibling. When Kol had brought up his "little problem" in a plea for help, his brother-his own blood-laughed outright at his predicament, shook his head as he left the Order's headquarters, and simply wished him good luck. With the nasty glitter in Sev's eyes, Kol wasn't sure if this "luck" Sev was talking about was that he would get _"lucky" _lucky, or if he was subtly trying to tell Kol that he wasn't likely to get out of this situation unscathed. Neither outcome was very inspiring; in the two weeks that Kol had been here he had found that both the girl's tenacity was frustrating at best. And the worst part was that he had to be nice and polite in _every_ interaction he had with them or face the wrath of practically everyone else in this freaking house.

Kol shifted uncomfortably in his chair—he had been in here for hours and he couldn't feel his ass anymore. He sighed and pushed back the pile of books and the messy stacks of notes as he stood up and looked down at the results of almost two week of hard work.

Sev would have called the sight a disaster area. Kol preferred the term "organized chaos."

He double checked the secrecy spells he had cast over them (he had learned to never be too careful where certain females of this house were concerned), and walked down the stairs to make his way down to the kitchen. Maybe if Mrs. Weasley was there he could convince her to make him a snack. It seemed that his initial take on Mrs. Weasley's kitchen skills were entirely accurate—it was way better than anything Sev had ever created (when Kol had mentioned this one night the whole table had been shocked, confusing Kol until Ron piped up "…Snape cooks?"). When Kol had finally made it passed the creepy sleeping portraits that he was half convinced had had Howler charms placed on them at some point, he found Harry and the twins lounging at the table with empty cups of tea in front of them while Mrs. Weasley was busy in front of the stove.

They all turned when he stepped through the door, closing it behind him so that conversation could be made without fear of waking the demonic portraits.

"Oh, there you are, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, smiling. "I was just about to send one of the boys up with a little food to keep you going; you being shut up in the library all hours."

Kol grinned ruefully and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I actually came down hoping to find something to snack on."

"Well take a seat, take a seat…let me see what I can whip up." She turned back to the cupboards and started pulling out a plate after flicking her wand to gather the ingredients. Kol had to move out of the way of some floating food items that came flying out of the pantry a moment later.

While this was happened, Fred and George turned affronted looks to their mother. "What's this?" Asked Fred, "You won't feed your own sons but you'll make something for both Kol and Harry?"

George pointed to Harry as he spoke. "I mean, him I can understand; he's skinny as a scarecrow." Harry glared at his friend. "But what's his excuse?" Here George jerked his thumb in Kol's direction.

Kol watched in fascination as Mrs. Weasley started lecturing her sons about manners and the appropriate times to ask questions, and what were they talking about, could they not see how thin Kol was?

Harry glanced over to share a snicker with Kol over the miserable expressions of the twins. This was soon put to an end, however, when Mrs. Weasley caught sight of them and went to town ranting, in great detail, about how exactly how unhealthy it was for the two of them to skip meals and forget to eat. During her tirade Kol and Harry nervously looked around the room, trying (and failing) to find an escape route.

By the time Mrs. Weasley had worn herself out Ginny and Hermione had seated themselves a short ways down the table. Kol resisted the urge to groan, but Harry, Fred, and George saw the despairing look on his face and , while they sympathized with his situation, couldn't pass up an opportunity to poke fun at all parties involved.

Mrs. Weaseley finally set down a plate in front of Kol that had a large and heavenly-looking sandwhich with a tall glass of milk, telling him to eat up.

Shooting a quick glance at the girl's smiles and then at the evil grins on the faces of both Harry and the twins, Kol decided he should make a quick getaway while he still had a chance. He stood up, picked up the plate, and said that he should get back to working on his research, but was stopped by the imposing Weasley Matriarch.

"Oh, no you don't." She forced him back down in his chair. "I'm not letting you out of this kitchen until that plate is cleared, good and proper."

"But-"

"No."

"But can't I-"

"NO."

Kol felt himself whither under her glare.

"….fine."

She beamed, patted him on the head, making him feel like a child. Although, from the pout on his face he was certainly acting like one-and he knew it too, but he was desperate to get away from his newly acquired fangirls.

Speaking of the fangirls…they were giggling to each other behind their hands at his disgruntled expression. He threw caution to the wind and gave them his best glare, causing them to instantly stop and turn the color of a particularly bright sunset. He almost smirked in his triumph but instead settled for cleaning his plate ASAP. The sooner he finished, the sooner he could avoid the girls, and subsequently, his imminent humiliation.

Unfortunately humiliation was something rather hard to get out of when the house's three resident pranksters were involved, and Kol's plan was shot to hell when Fred decided to open up his mouth.

"So, Hermione," He asked casually, "find anything _interesting_ up in that library?"

Kol mentally groaned and watched her face turn a shade of pink he didn't even know existed.

"Yeah, yeah," George joined in. "Surely you must have found something particularly _enticing."_ The way he said the word made it sound like something almost dirty. Kol personally thought George was lucky his mother was busy at the other end of the room and not paying them any attention. Hermione looked like she wanted to sink into the floorboards, but she somehow managed to stammer out an answer of some kind (Kol was trying not to pay attention so as not to embarrass her further).

Harry, noticing her stuttering state, moved onto their next victim (there was absolutely no vindictive pleasure in his tone, _none at all, _why would you think that?), "Hey Ginny," He started (Kol cringed slightly in anticipation), "what do you think's for dinner? See anything.._tasty?"_

Kol lost it and choked on his drink, almost snorting milk out his nose. George, Harry, and Fred roared with laughter and George pounded Kol's back and handed him a napkin. Ginny's face was the very picture of embarrassment and she and Hermione quickly left the room to the sound of Mrs. Weasley asking what on earth they were talking about.

**Harry's P.O.V.**

It was late at night and while nobody had mentioned an Order meeting, he, along with the twins, knew that there was one. How? Because Kol wasn't in the room with them, even though it was well past midnight. Obviously this called for a round of snooping.

The three boys snuck out of their room quietly and down the steps, stopping on the landing just above the kitchen door. They pulled out the extendable ears and lowered them quickly, tuning into the conversation just as they heard Sirius speaking.

"—don't understand why he has to be _here_ to do his bloody research!"

Dumbledore's voice cut in. "I've explained it to you, Sirius, he's tracking down the possibilities of a hunch of mine; The information of which has partially been hoarded by the Blacks and currently resides in your family library.

The boys all looked at each other curiously. What was this research about? And why was Sirius so up in arms about Kol staying here?

"Not to mention," Tonk's voice rose up, "That you _did_ happen to offer up your house as the Order's Headquarters—ergo, if Dumbledore says Kol needs to be here to complete his research, then that should be the end of it."

"But we don't know what he's even researching!" Sirius exclaimed angrily.

"Well, considering your family history, it's probably dark magic." This came from Mad-eye. "Although," he continued, "the whole reason he was brought on was because Dumbledore said he was an expert, is that right Ashford?"

"Kinda makes you wonder exactly _what_ it is that you're an expert on." Sirius said.

Harry felt himself tense slightly at the cold voice that answered.

"Well if Dumbledore hasn't let you know, than I really don't see how it's any of your business."

The twins looked over at Harry with wide eyes. George opened his mouth to ask a question, but his brother shushed him when they heard Dumbledore interject in the budding argument before could go anywhere.

"Alastor, please, there's no need to interrogate him, or be suspicious. He is simply checking certain possible ways that Voldemort could have used to extend his life. As for Mr. Ashford's specialties, that is for him to divulge to those he wishes; but know that he is, indeed, a master of his chosen field. I also trust him with the secrets of the Order."

There was an unspoken command in that sentence—stop fighting and accept him—that everyone picked up.

"Fine." Moody finally grunted. Murmurs of assent were sounded all around.

"Thanks." Said one sarcastic voice—the American accent easy to hear—"I feel so included."

There was the harsh sound of a chair being thrown back as someone stood but Remus's "Sirius." In a warning growl silenced any further movement.

Dumbledore finally called an end to the meeting after Kingsley was assigned to guard duty. Though what he was meant to guard was unclear.

The three eavesdroppers quickly and quietly made their way back to their room and into their beds, but before they went to feign sleep, shared a contemplative look about what they'd found out. Or—more accurately—what they didn't. What was Kol a master at? Was it really a dark art, or were Sirius and Mad-eye just making assumtions?

Just before Harry drifted off, but some time after Kol came up and collapsed into bed; Harry recalled what Ron had said when they first found out about theit house guest—the Ashfords were primarily a Dark family. Then again, Dumbledore _had_ said that Kol was against Voldemort…maybe if he could take a peek at Kol's research? Harry decided that tomorrow he would recruit the twins to take part in operation: Find-Out-What-Kol-Is-Researching.

This should be interesting….

**Yeah, so in case you haven't noticed, this isn't going to be sticking to canon, and if it does, it won't be for very long. As of right now, I don't know if I'll be changing the actual story line or just the time line.**

**TTFN, Write ya later! :D**


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